Objective
Main Objective
The main objectives of MONTAGE are to:
-exploit agent technology to support efficient (in terms of both cost and performance) service provision to fixed and mobile users in competitive telecommunications environments,
-demonstrate the usefulness and applicability of agent technology in handling the complexities of service provision, accounting and charging , by means of personal mobility trials involving real users, services, and multi-provider telecommunications networks,
-assess the trade-offs (regarding system complexity, performance, ease of use, etc.) for all the stakeholders involved in building and using agents and agent-based services.
Technical Approach
A user has subscription contracts with a number of retailers (Home Retailers), but may use services offered by other retailers (Visited Retailers). Each retailer offers/promotes the services of a number of Service (Content) Providers. Network Providers support the services offered. The interactions and negotiations arising in this context are typical of those arising when the entire value-chain of actors is involved.
The project considers three business cases:
Business Case 1 concerns a user who has subscribed to a Home Retailer (who maintains information about the user's profile and service subscription details) and requests a service which is also available from a Visited Retailer. Business Case 2 involves a user who has no subscription to any retailer for the requested service.
Business Case 3 involves a user in a visited domain, who requests a service (s)he has subscribed for but which is not offered by any retailer serving that domain.
Based on the business cases, MONTAGE creates agents and agent-based services for accounting, charging and personal mobility support, and exploits the agent technology in handling relevant complexities and assisting the involved players in taking efficient decisions.
Summary of Trial
The trial configuration reflects the business context and the business cases above.
The pilot application is a Hypermedia Information Browsing (HIB) service. A browser application will be customised to incorporate agent services and offer a user capabilities, such as choosing the best service offer.
The retailer (implemented as a HIB server or a proxy) receives the user's requests, provides the personalised services (based on user profiles), and collects the necessary accounting information. Agents allow user-retailer negotiations for service offering.
The content provider will be a HIB server that provides the information content. A HIB-specific agent will be able to move to the Visited Retailer domain (if the Visited Retailer does not offer the service) for providing the service to the user.
The Mediapoli pilot network (a research and piloting environment being built in Finland) is planned as a trial site.
Expected Achievements
-A TINA-compliant architecture for support of personal mobility and accounting and charging aspects, that includes agent and agent-based services and serves the needs of the proposed trials.
-A software platform that features agents to support personal mobility aspects and accounting and charging.
-Assessment of the applicability of agent technology in creating agents in support of telecommunications services, and evaluation of agent technology on the basis of the trial experiences.
Expected Impact
-Evaluation of the agent-based approach and technology through the experiences of users, service developers, and service and network providers.
-Proposals for potential refinements to TINA after revisiting the TINA architectural framework in light of the results and experiences on agent-based services.
-Contribution and dissemination of project results to the ACTS Community, standardisation bodies, and industrial forums.
Main contributions to the programme objectives:
Main deliverables
Implemented agent-based accounting, charging, and mobility functions in a TINA-compliant architecture and a SW-platform.
Contribution to the programme
Exploit agent technologies to support efficient service provision to fixed and mobile users.
Key Issues
-Creation of a set of agent-based services for accounting and charging in a TINA-compliant environment that supports personal mobility by adopting and extending existing results and software platforms.
-Creation of a set of agent-based personal mobility support services in a TINA-compliant environment by adopting and extending existing results and software platforms.
-Investigation of the common aspects of accounting and charging and personal mobility support and their exploitation by means of agent technology.
-Customisation of agent-based accounting, charging, and personal mobility support services for an existing Hypermedia Information Browsing application and their integration into that application.
-Demonstration of the usability of agent-based services by performing user trials in fixed and mobile telecommunications environments/networks.
-Application and evaluation of existing technologies for creating agents and agent-based services, and proposal for potential enhancements for these technologies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering information engineering telecommunications telecommunications networks
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
19002 Peania
Greece
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.